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Lord, born at Bethlehem and declared to be the son of David and heir to his throne,
should at that time in those circumstances ascend the throne and introduce the reign of
peace. That this was not the Divine programme both the events themselves and also the
Scriptures make clear. Psa. 2:, which speaks of the earthly rule and the earthly
inheritance of the Son of God, nevertheless refers to Him as raised from the dead;
otherwise what do the words of verse seven mean:
"Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee"?
They cannot refer to the miraculous begetting that preceded the birth at Bethlehem for the
words "this day" could not be thus spoken. They refer, as the N.T. declares, to the
Resurrection.
"He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art My
Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Acts 13: 33).
To the same effect, Peter refers to other prophetic statements of David saying:
"Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that
of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ" (Acts 2: 30).
"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus . . . . . Him hath God exalted . . . . ., to be a
Prince and a Saviour" (Acts 5: 30, 31).
If we turn to the book of the Revelation, the title that stands out in the opening of the
book is "the Prince of the kings of the earth", and the whole apocalyptic imagery,
involving heaven as well as earth is made to bear upon the moment when the seventh
angel sounds, and:
"The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD" become "the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His
Christ" (Rev. 11: 5).
What is true in the earthly sphere, is true of the heavenly calling of which the epistle
to the Hebrews is an exposition (Heb. 3: 1). When the Apostle at the opening of
chapter eight would sum up his teaching, he said:
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an
high priest, Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens"
(Heb. 8: 1).
Without the risen, ascended, seated Christ, Abraham and his seed would look for the
heavenly city in vain. So, when we come to the third and highest sphere of blessing, that
of the Mystery, we still find that the risen, exalted, seated Christ is the one and all
comprehensive guarantee for the access and acceptance into that most wonderful of all
spheres of blessing for the believer. We have touched lightly upon Psa. 2:, Acts 13:
Rev. 11: and Heb. 8:, but we must look more carefully at the statements of
Eph. 1: 20-23, for they are vital to the high calling of the church of the One Body of
which we are members. Christ is said to have been set at the right hand of God "in the
heavenly places" (Eph. 1: 20). This phrase has been considered with some degree of
fulness in Article No.8 of this series. It was there shown to be unique, being found only